Boissonnault



Feb. 28, 1956 Filed April 21, 1953 R. BOISSONNAULT SNOW THROWER RAKINGMECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet l Inventor Ronoldo Boissonnoulr Attorneys R.BOISSONNAULT SNOW THROWER RAKING MECHANISM Feb. 28, 1956 Filed April 21,1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ronoldo Inventor Boissonnuult W Attorneys Feb. 28,1956 BQISSONNAULT 2,736,112

SNOW THROWER RAKING MECHANISM Filed April 21, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 5Inventor Ronoldo Boissonnoult Ahorneys United States Patent SN OW'THROWER' RAKING MECHANISM Ronaldo BoissonnaulgMontreal, Quebec, Canada,assignor to Sicard Inc.,.Montreal, Quebec,,Canada ApplicationApril 21,1953, Serial No..350,167

4 Claims. (Cl. 37-43) The present invention relates to power operatedsnow throwers. and more particularly to a snow raking mechanism for snowthrowers such as rotary snow ploughs, snow blowers or the like.

Snow throwers in present use are capable of removing snow banks of arelatively low'height which rarely exceedfour feet.

Consequently, when these snow throwers encounter snow banks offive totenfeet or more, their efiiciency decreases to a marked degree as theycannot remove the snow in. acontinuous manner, that is by a continuousforward movement of the snow thrower, because the same soon becomeschoked by'an excessive amount of snow entering the snow casing. Theusual way of operating-snow throwers when working in high snow banks, isto either have several men shovelling the snow down to a lower level infront of the advancing snow thrower, or to advance the snow thrower afew feet at one time with the snow thrower casing at a high level, thento reverse the snow thrower and advance again with the thrower casing ata lower level. Both these methods of operating the snow thrower indeepsnow are time consuming and relatively expensive.

Accordingly, mechanical means have been proposed as an attachmenttoregular snow'throwers for mechanically raking the. snow from. the.upper levels of the snow bank down to. the entrancetof. the snow blowercasing.

One type of snow raking mechanism. now in use consists in the provisionof. swingable arms mounted on the snow thrower casing and supporting arotating shaft provided with: snowengaging radial blades. The snowengaging range of this mechanism is limited by the size of said blades.Furthermore, these rotating blades are cumbersome and may be the causeof serious injuries to nearby workers. Moreover, the snow dislodged bysaid mechanism will not be fed at a uniform rate to the snow thrower andmay cause choking of the latter.

Accordingly, the general object of the present invention is theprovision of a snow raking mechanism for snow throwers which willobviate the above mentioned defects.

Still another important object of the present invention is the provisionof a snow raking mechanism for a snow thrower, which will rake the snowofi? a snow bank in a very uniform and continuous manner so as to feedthe snow at a constant rate to the snow thrower, impeller, thus the samewill not become jammed by an excessive amount of snow.

Still another important object of the present invention is the provisionof a snow raking mechanism of the character described which will take upa minimum of space in front of the snow thrower and which will not bedangerous for men Working in its vicinity.

Yet another important object of the present invention is the provisionof a raking mechanism of the character described which will be verystrong in construction and efficient in use and will not be liable todamage even when striking hard obstacles, as stones or the like,embedded in the snow.

2,7 36,1 12 patented Feb. 28, 1956 2 The foregoing andother importantobjects of themesent invention willi becomezmore apparent duringthefollowing: disclosure and by referring to the drawingsv in which:

Figure 12 is av sideview of a. snow blower. and, raking mechanism;in.relation.to. a. snow bank shownin dot and dash'line;

FigureZis a. front perspective view of the snow raking mechanisminposition. on the. snow blower casing;

Figured is. a fractional side elevation of a rake member secured tosanendless chain;

Figure-4 isa front-elevation of the same;

Figure 5 is. a front elevation of. the raking mechanism, the rakemembers notbeingshown;

Figure 6 is' a side elevation of the raking mechanism; and Figure 7 is aplan section of the raking mechanism taken. justiabovethe lower drivingshaft.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings in which like reference:characters indicate like elements throughout, the letter A indicates thefront part of the truckor'the like prime mover on which is mounted asnow blower B comprising a casing C housing rotatable screws D,shownlin'. dash and: dottedv line in Figure 2, for feeding the snow toarotary impeller, notshown, which discharges the snow through: the: chuteE. The snow blower is power driven through the shaft F,.shown in Figurel.

The snow raking mechanism, according to the invention, is generallyindicated at R and comprises arms 1 rigidly secured to. each side of thetop part of the casing C and each consists of an angle bar to the sideflange of which aresecured two-plates 2 and 3 respectivel'y'disposed atthe upper and=lower ends of said angle bars 1. Journal'boxes 4. and Sare rigidly secured to the respective side plates 2i and 3 of the twoarms 1 and rotatably support anupper shaft 6 and alower shaft 7respectively. These shafts 6 and 7 extend in spaced parallelrelationship transverselytosthe' direction of motion of the snow blowerand in a horizontal" plane. A transverse brace 8 is secured at bothendsto the side plates 3 above the shaft 7 and extendsparall'el' to thelatter.

A drive box 9 surrounding the shaft 7 is rigidly secured to the brace 8by means of side plates 10 as shown in Figure-7. A driving'gear wheel 11is keyed to the shaft 7 inside' the drive'box: 9 and isrotated by meansof the endless chain 12 trained on a gear wheel 13 which is secured to astub shaft 14, extending at the rear of the raking mechanism R andjournalled in brackets 15. The stub shaft 14 is drivingly connected tothe upper endless screw D by means of universal joint 16, shaft 17,universal joint 18, stub shaft 19, gear wheel 20, endless chain 21 andgear wheel 22 which latter is keyed to the shaft of said screw D.

A frame member 23 rigidly secured to the drive box 9, extends upwardlyin parallel relationship with the arms 1 to be secured at its upper endto a journal box 24 enclosing the middle portion of the shaft 6. Anupper transverse brace 25 is secured at both ends to the side plates 2and at its intermediate portion to the journal box 24. This transversebrace 25 extends in parallel relationship with and is adjacent to theupper shaft 6. Diagonally and rearwardly extending braces 26 are securedto the upper end of the side arms 1 and to the top of the casing C atthe back of the raking mechanism, and near the lower end of the chute Eas shown in Figure 1. These diagonal braces 26 maintain the rakingmechanism at the required forwardly inclined position.

The drive box 9, journal box 24 and frame member 23 extend in the middleportion of the raking mechanism whereby the driving torque applied tothe lower shaft 7 will not impart to the same excessive shearingstresses.

A pair of sprocket wheels 27 are bolted to the flanges 27' on shaft 7 oneach side of the drive box 9, one

sprocket wheel of each pair being disposed close to said drive box 9 andthe other sprocket wheel of said pairs being disposed close to thejournals 5. Similarly, the upper shaft 6 is provided with two pairs ofsprocket wheels 28 bolted to flanges 28 and respectively aligned withthe sprockets 27 of the lower shaft 7. Two pairs of endless chains 29are trained on the sprocket wheels 27 and 28 of the two shafts 7 and 6so as to connect said shafts.

A plurality of spacedly disposed rake members 30 are secured to eachpair of driving chains 29 and extend transversely to the direction ofthe motion of the snow blower, that is, in parallel relationship withthe shafts 6 and 7. Each rake member 30 has a length slightly greaterthan the distance separating the chains of any one pair whereby saidrake members extend for substantially half the width of the rakingmechanism R. Each rake member 30 consists in an angle bar, one flange 33of which is secured flat against the driving chains 29 by means ofbrackets 31 and nuts and bolts 32, particularly shown in Figures 3 and4. The other flange 34 of said rake members 30 extend at right angles tothe plane of the chains 29 and its edge has serrations constituting aplurality of snow engaging teeth 35, more particularly shown in Figure2.

It will be noted that the rake flange 33, secured to the chains 29,extends upwardly from the snow engaging flange 34 whereby the stressesimparted by the snow to the rake member will be better resisted by thechains 29.

The rake members, according to the invention, will rake the snow from anupper level uniformly down to a level suitable for engagement by thesnow blower casing C. Therefore, the snow blower will be able toprogress or advance at a uniform speed without the necessity of backingup.

It should be understood that the height of the raking mechanism may bevaried according to the locations in which the snow blower is destinedto work. In order to increase the effective working range of said snowraking mechanism, snow slicer blades 36 are mounted at the upper ends ofthe side arms 1.

While a snow blower has been illustrated in conjunction with the snowraking mechanism according to the invention, it is understood that thelatter may be mounted on other types of snow throwers or snow removingmachines.

While a preferred embodiment according to the present invention has beenillustrated and described, it is understood that various modificationsmay be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of theappended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with a snow thrower, a snow raking mechanismcomprising a straight arm rigidly secured at each side of the throwercasing and extending upwardly and forwardly thereof, a transverse bracehorizontally disposed and connecting said arms, a drive box secured tothe middle portion of said brace, a first shaft passing through saiddrive box and journalled to said arms at its ends, a frame membersecured to said brace and extending upwardly in parallel relationshipWith said arms, a journal box secured to the upper end of said brace, asecond shaft passing through said journal box and journalled to saidarms at its end, spaced flanges on said shafts, two pairs of sprocketwheels mounted on each of said shafts, and secured to said flanges, onepair on each side of said journal box and said drive box respectively,two pairs of endless chains trained on said sprocket wheels to connectsaid shafts, a plurality of spaced rake members secured at their ends toeach pair'of said chains, a driving gear wheel keyed to said first shaftand disposed within said drive box and means for rotating said drivinggear wheel.

2. The combination as claimed in claim 1, further including snow slicerblades secured to the upper end of said arms.

3. The combination as claimed in claim 2, inwhich said rake membersconsist of angle bars having one flange secured to said chains andhaving the free edge of the other flange forming snow engaging teeth.

4. The combination as claimed in claim 3, including diagonal bracesconnecting the upper end of each of said arms to said snow throwercasing and an additional transverse brace connecting the upper end ofsaid arms and secured to said journal box.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS361,626 Hendershot Apr. 19, 1887 1,531,755 Radovich Mar. 31, 19251,567,495 Fahrney Dec. 25, 1925 1,837,087 Wandscheer Dec. 15, 19312,373,318 Lewin Apr. 10, 1945 2,477,257 Lee July 26, 1951 2,621,773Coggins et al. Dec. 16, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 764,710 Germany Aug. 9,1951 as; air .1-

